Now This I Had To Share

I've taken some time off from blogging.  There have been moments in the past few months when I've thought, "I should write about this", but nothing has really compelled me to get back to sharing our story.  Especially during that horribly depressing election.

Until this.

This week's literature story in the 3rd grade is about a tailor and his three sons - two of which want to also become tailors, and one who is a "dreamer" and wants to travel the world.  Ben's teacher asked the kids to write a paragraph about whether or not they'd want to "work aside their parents" and why. 

Here is Ben's rough draft response (translation below):

Translation:

"This is how I won't want to work aside.  I won't want to work aside my mom because it's boring.  All you have to do is sign papers that's boring.  I'd want to work aside my uncle.  His job is at the same place, but he is a lectrician.  He cuts wire and some times he gets candy.  Now this is not boring.  This is how I want to work aside." 

I love it.  And if our son wants to cut wire and eat candy, as long as he is the best wire cutter and candy eater he can be, we fully support his dream. 

Heck, there are many days I'd much rather be a wire cutter and candy eater, too. 

Terminal Fun

Darrin and I were invited by one of our customers to the big kick-off party at the new Terminal B at the Sacramento International Airport.  Our company built the Automatic People Mover portion of the project that connects the Main Terminal with the new Airside Terminal B.  So it was very exciting to attend last night's festivities.

It was especially great that the customer who invited us was the general contractor for the Main Terminal, but you didn't see him inviting the electrical contractor on THAT portion of the project.  He invited us! We had a great time meeting up with him, his wife and their team from Chicago.

I take Darrin to more than a few work events, but this one exceeded our expectations.  I had already seen the BIG RED RABBIT (the $750,000 BIG RED RABBIT, which was only a portion of the $8 Million art budget for the new terminal) at another event at that Terminal, but Darrin had yet to see it.  And for this event, in front of the BIG RED RABBIT, they had acrobats spinning and hanging high over the crowd from what looked like a flimsy scarf material.  It was super cool.  There was a live band, lots of free food and drinks, and we had the ability to walk around and explore the new Main Terminal.  (Morgan, you will be happy to know that the restroom stalls give ample room for bringing in your suitcase!)

Then at 9:30, the crowd took turns riding the Automatic People Mover across to the Airside Terminal B so we could tour that, too. 

Clearly the best part of the night was the 30 second ride on the Automatic People Mover. 

It was so fun for me to have my best friend by my side for this event.  Over the years he has gotten pretty darn good at making small talk with people he doesn't know and helping me network the room.  Luckily we didn't know or need to know too many people at this party, so we were able to just enjoy ourselves and have a good time out on the town airport. 

Stacked Decks

I don't know if anyone even reads my political blog posts.  I'm sure an issue about construction isn't very exciting for many of you.  But if you give a minute to the issues I discuss, and then think about how issues you care about are similarly handled by our local governments, then I hope that I can turn you from a possibly passive voter to someone who gives a damn.

Getting fed up is how great movements begin.

It is my humble opinion that the PEOPLE currently have little to no voice in our government.  Our elected officials are beholden to those who fund their campaigns, whether Democrat, Republican, Tea Party or Independent.  Unions and the LARGE corporations (think, Wall Street, AIG, GE, Bank of America) have almost unlimited funds to throw their weight around Washington and in our local state and community governments.  Time and time again I see elected officials vote for the most insane things with no regard to taxpayers, not because they believe in it, but because they were pressured by the unions/corporations that fund their campaigns.  Reason and logic never prevail in these situations, when average people or small businesses try to explain to the politicians how these policies kill jobs and hurt our communities.  I sit in meetings wanting to scream - as a mother, a wife, a taxpayer, a business owner HOW CAN THESE DECISIONS MAKE SENSE!??!

I once heard that small businesses employ 80% of the workforce in our country.  Who is the voice for these small businesses?  Who is the voice for the voters who fall squarely in the middle between liberal Democrat and staunch Republican?  Give me a candidate who represents those voters and they will absolutely have my vote.  Unfortunately small businesses and mainstream America can't afford to fund a campaign, so we end up with politicians funded by the big companies with highly paid lobbyists - and the result is policy and regulation that grants favors to these special interests on the backs of small business and average taxpayers. 

Last night at the Regional Transit Board of Directors meeting, our company lost the opportunity to bid on $2.5 BILLION in work on the South Sacramento Light Rail project.  Due to the actions of four Directors who controlled the majority of the votes, the $2.5 billion project will completely exclude non-union contractors.  Why would they do such a thing?  Because they are elected officials in the City of Sacramento who are beholden to the labor unions that helped fund their campaign.  Without citing any justifiable reasons for the discrimination, despite lots of testimony as to how PLAs limit competition, increase costs and discriminate against the 75% of California that is the non-union construction workforce, these Directors upheld the PLA on the South Sacramento extension.  And poof - $2.5 billion is no longer available for our company to bid or our taxpaying workers to build.  (I would like to thank the six Directors on the RT Board that understood and spoke openly about the discrimination and incredible cost of a PLA and voted against it.)

If you think it's bad at the local level, it only gets worse at the State level.  Last week, at the very end of the legislative session, the unions sponsored and got approved several horrible anti-democratic gut-and-amend bills (bills that started as something completely different and were made into pro-union bills at the last minute). 

The gut-and-amend bill that makes me the most angry is Senate Bill 922 which basically tells voters and local governments that they are too stupid to make the right decisions.  SB922 stops state funding for public projects in any city/county that bans discriminatory project labor agreements.  That's right, if a local government decides to pass a ban on PLAs so that projects are open to ALL contractors, or if voters approve a ban on PLAs in their community, they will no longer receive state funds for construction projects.  This bill was in direct response to our ballot initiative in the City and County of Sacramento to ban PLAs. Knowing that the voters would ban PLAs as they have done overwhelmingly by ballot initiative in several other cities, the unions went to the legislature, who owed them for the campaign funds, and effectively took away the democratic rights of voters and local governments in our state. This bill was passed directly down party lines - Democrats voting for it, Republicans voting against it.

Tell me, why do we have local governments or ballot initiatives by the voters if the unions can overrule them in the state legislature? 

I was accused last night at the RT Board meeting of not representing the workers, since I myself am a contractor.  Like those two things are mutually exclusive! I take considerable issue with this accusation, because in fact, I represent the 200 workers that we employ in our company that should have the right to work on government projects, the 600 some apprentices that are indentured in our non-union apprenticeship program that are excluded from working on a PLA project, and I represent the 75% of the construction industry in California that chooses not to belong to a union.  I volunteered last night to represent considerably more workers than the union lobbyist that was speaking in favor of PLAs.  

In this state, more than many others, the decks are stacked against anyone who bucks the union system. While this can make a person feel completely powerless at times, there are times when we also win our fight to expose PLAs and government waste, and the politicians make the right decision. I will continue to fight for the small businesses and the people of our community because I am passionate about doing what is best for the industry, I believe in democracy, and I believe in the power of informed voters.  And I know that as more and more voters become aware of the special interests that are currently controlling our government, we will do more to replace these beholden politicians with people who truly want to make a difference in the direction of our country. 

And that is what leads to really great movements.  That is the hope and change that I am looking for.

Cost of Living

This song by Ronnie Dunn absolutely touches me to the core.  You can listen to it here on You Tube, but here are some of the lyrics:

Everything to know about me, is written on this page,

the number you can reach me, my social and my age.

Yes I served in the army, it's where I learned to shoot,

18 months in the desert, pouring sand out of my boots.

No I've never been convicted of a crime,

and I can start this job anytime.

I got a strong back, steel toes

I rarely call in sick, a good truck, 

what I don't know, I catch on real quick.

I work weekends if I have to, nights and holidays.

Give you 40 and then some, whatever it takes.

Four dollars and change at the pump -

the cost of livin's high and going up. 

I'm sure a hundred others have applied.

Rumor has it you're only taking five. 

I got a strong back, steel toes,

I'm handy with a wrench.

There's nothing I can't drive, nothing I can't fix.

I work sun up to sun down,

ain't too proud to sweep the floors.

The bank has started calling and the wolves are at my door.

Four dollars and change at the pump -

the cost of livin's high and going up.  

Listening to this song I picture the guys who work for us - the craftsmen out on our projects, making a living to support their family.  I think of the guys we've had to let go because of this recession, guys we really wanted to stay but couldn't keep busy.  And I think of their wives, their kids.  I also think of how many times I've been asked "Hey, are we hiring, because I have a brother/cousin/friend/uncle who can't find work?"  

The construction industry has been one of the hardest hit by this recession.  And we are nowhere near seeing an increase in work.  Our estimators work so hard every day to try and land another project, but with significantly less work out to bid, we are bidding against significantly more competition.  And so far, we're one of the lucky companies that are still doing okay, considering.  

The man in this song is real to me.  He is an employee, he is a person off the street looking for work, he is my husband, or my brother.  He is a man who is willing to do anything to support his family.  

Yet as somebody who should be able to actually give this hardworking man a job, my hands are tied.  Until this economy picks up, I will have to continue turning him away.  And it breaks my heart.  

I Got Booted

Five years ago I was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the California Apprenticeship Council.  (That was back when we were fairly certain he was a groper, but didn't know he was an adulterer.)

It was a very big honor for me to serve on the CAC.  The Council is a commission set up to oversee the State's handling of apprenticeship issues in California.  We would hear appeals from apprentices, appeals regarding new or expanding programs, research and try to resolve issues affecting apprenticeship, and draft legislation to fix problems with current laws regarding apprenticeship. 

For many, many, MANY years the CAC has been a very political council.  The politics comes from the union vs. non union sides of the construction industry, even though the council also oversees apprenticeship in other industries.

In a nutshell, here's the political battle (and believe me when I tell you I'm not joking):

The union side truly believes that merit shop (non-union) business owners want to exploit workers in every way possible, and that merit shop programs do not really train apprentices, they are just a way for greedy business owners to pay lower wages.  (Seriously, you can ask any union journeyman about this and they will confirm this belief.)  On the other side of the aisle, merit shop programs don't give a damn about the union programs, they just want to provide a choice to employers that want apprentices but don't want to sign with a union. 

But the key here is that the unions do not want competition. 

You see there are laws in California that to perform public works projects, contractors must make sure that 16.7% of their workforce are state registered apprentices.  If no merit shop apprenticeship programs exist, then employers are forced to dispatch union apprentices and pay into the union pension and benefit plans. 

When Grey Davis was Governor, the 17 member CAC was comprised almost solely of union backed commissioners (most of which were themselves members of one union or another).  It was literally 99% impossible for a merit shop program to be approved.  When Schwarzenegger became governor, he balanced the CAC and it was truly represented half by union leaning folks, and half non-union leaning folks.  And we got a lot of business done. 

Well, most of us Schwarzenegger appointees have terms that have now expired.  And Governor Brown is following in the footsteps of Grey Davis.  Today he reappointed three of the union leaning commissioners, but replaced us non-union leaning commissioners with more union leaning commissioners.  Once again, the balance is gone. 

I am disappointed that my time on the CAC is over.  I have met wonderful people, union and non-union alike.  I have especially enjoyed getting to know "The Ladies of the CAC" - a group of strong, opinionated, wonderful ladies who served with me on the CAC. 

The Ladies of the CAC
Julia Dozier, Kate Leyden, Anne Quick and me. 
Not pictured:  Donna Bechtold & Lucy Wang

But mostly I am just depressed that in this state our politicians and appointees are owned by the unions.  And these commissions, appointees and politicians make rules that the rest of us have to follow, when unions only represent less than 20% of our population.  The more and more I get involved with politics, the more I see that it doesn't represent the people - it represents the special interests. 

And now that I have free time I'll be darned if I can't find a way to actively fight those special interests in favor of the people who live in California. 

Field Trip

I got out of the office today and visited four of our local project sites!  It had been months since I had been to some of them, and things had dramatically changed. 

The first stop of the day was our project at the Sacramento Railyards, where we are working on the Amtrak/Union Pacific track relocation.  This work involves creating tunnels for passengers to walk under the tracks, new platform areas to board the trains, and all the electrical infrastructure to support this project.  It is a very cool construction project - not to mention it is awesome to get up close to the old railyard buildings that have been shut away from the public for so long.  These buildings are in serious disrepair but are absolutely beautiful.  (I kept thinking my friend Lora would have loved to come along so she could photograph the old buildings!)

Here are some of the pictures I got at the railyards project today.

This last one isn't part of our project, I just thought it was cool. 

After our visit to the railyards, we headed to UC Davis to visit the new building we are constructing called Segundo Student Services Building.  This one is almost done!  I didn't get many pictures since the building still needs finishing touches like paint. 

Then we headed to Folsom, where we visited the new spillway we are helping build.  This project will last four years but for now we are simply putting in the underground utilities that will go to the new spillway. 

At 1:30 pm they were closing down the site to do the blasting of the existing rock, so we hightailed it out of there and headed to Shingle Springs where we are building a medical office building for the tribe that owns Red Hawk Casino.  This project is also almost complete, so no pictures now! 

It's a shame I can't get out to these projects more often.  I love meeting with our talented crews who build each site, getting to see the blueprint develop into an actual project, and experiencing the pride in our company as we build really great things.  You can see the diversity in the types of projects we build and this keeps every day fresh and fun.  Have I mentioned that I love what I do? 

Just To Drive Dad Nuts

Working with your dad is not always easy.  Like when I'm working on million dollar deals and he comes in my office to tell me to use a coaster under my coffee cup. 

Well, Dad, you're on a year long vacation and look - NO COASTER!  Wahahahahaha (evil laugh)!

Oh and also, Dad, I miss you. 



These Boots

Are great for out on the airfield construction zone.  Not so great for fitting in the Vegas atmosphere.  So I'm heading home.

Loving What I Do

Sitting here in my hotel room in Vegas, having just left our job site office at 9pm while our crews head out to the airfield, I can honestly say I don't think I've ever felt more pressure in my career.

This pressure has been building for three years and the recession has most to do with it:  our revenue is down 13% from 2008, we have downsized staff which means everyone has taken on more tasks and responsibility, we are having to do more jobs to try and achieve our revenue (large jobs are harder to find these days) which means more work for less people, the jobs have very little money in them, and the owners/customers are pinching pennies and making everything a fight.  After three years of fighting the recession, there were days when I would find myself feeling really down and burnt out.

Then, over the course of a month or so, I had an awakening.  I realized that because of the recession, because of the downsizing and sharing of responsibilities, I had lost sight of what it is I love to do.  And I had become bogged down in paperwork, contract negotiation, administrative procedures and labor laws.  It was a very necessary thing to do because I needed to become the expert in these things for our company, and establish procedures that meant I could someday hand the tasks over and yet understand them enough to manage them.  But I hated every minute of it.  EVERY. MINUTE. OF. IT.

And so I made a conscious decision to start getting myself out on our job sites.  Out where the action happens.  And every time I stepped foot on a construction site, or met with a customer, or talked to our crews about what they were building, I would feel that spark.  That spark that used to keep me working until midnight without feeling tired.  That spark that would wake me in the middle of the night with an idea on how to approach a particular challenge.  That spark that motivated me to motivate and mentor teammates to their full potential.  It was still there, buried beneath the contracts, lawsuits and labor laws.

Luckily, I'm in a position to rearrange our organizational structure.  Slowly but with a conscious and deliberate plan, I am finally shifting the paperwork to someone who likes the analytical details.  I've taught our team the ins and outs of the labor laws so now I only need to give refresher courses.  And me, well I'm out doing what I love:  building things.  My tools are not drills, backhoes or screwdrivers.  My tools are communication, strategic planning, experience, and a love of our industry.  I add value by supporting our project teams when they need a strong arm negotiator or help working through a particular challenge.  A love of learning allows me to research details, probing and asking questions until our team comes to a collective AHA! moment in the face of adversity.  My continuing goal is to align the members of our team according to their natural talents, and then support, encourage and challenge them to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to become experts.  This is what I love to do.

A friend of mine sent this quote to our project team that is facing a very challenging situation and after my recent journey from downtrodden to energized, it really hit home.  It's from this book "Today We Are Rich" by Tim Sanders (It's a free download on my new Kindle - a mother's day gift from my hubby!):

"Much of what you call bad news is actually get-busy news, information that gives you a reason to spring into action and focus on solutions. . . Very little news is truly bad (meaning the damage is permanent and there's nothing I can do about it).  It's news that simply means, 'You need to get busy and do something about this.  The status quo will no longer work.'"

I keep hearing people say this recession is like nothing they have ever seen.  It is truly nothing I have ever seen in my career.  But reframing the situation in your mind surely helps.  This recession, no matter how much pressure it has caused, has made our company much, much stronger over the last three years.  And because of that we are currently firing on all cylinders.  The jobs are still scarce, they are still lacking margin, everything is still a fight, but our team is talented and we are ready.  We communicate, we work as a team, and we are all heading in a very similar, if not the same, direction.  More than that, we love what we do.

Yes, it's pressure.  But it's the pressure that keeps me up until midnight without getting tired.  I had forgotten the secret of doing what you love.  Makes me think of a note I once got in a fortune cookie, that I didn't understand at the time but kept anyway:

Happiness is doing what you enjoy.  Loving what you do is Freedom.

It's Still Work

Quite often I have after-hours work events that take me away from my family.  I'm sure in Darrin's mind these are fun times where I hang out with friends, have drinks and maybe talk a little about work.  Tonight I decided to bring him with me to one of these mixers.  I figured one of two things would happen: 

a) he'd love it and want to join me all the time, which would be great or

b) he'd hate it and see that these types of events aren't all they're cracked up to be. 

The event was a good one, lots of folks from our industry.  I thought it was a productive night visiting friends, clients, contacts from other trades, meeting some new people, too.  Darrin, well, other than visiting with the two or three people that we've actually become friends with over the last year or two, he didn't think it was all that exciting. 

The good news is that since we had a sitter for the night, we spent two hours at the event and then stole away for a fabulous dinner at Spataro.  Prosciutto with pears, beet salad for Darrin and romaine salad for me, and a shared mushroom pizza.  Fantastic! 

I think if I bring my hubby to a few more events and he gets to know people, he may actually start to enjoy himself.  Or he may prefer to stay home and eat mac and cheese with the kids.  Only time will tell.

Building A People Mover

One of the coolest jobs we've built this year was the Automatic People Mover for the new airport expansion at Sacramento International Airport.  Our crews have been installing the electric track, insanely expensive equipment and associated components of the tram system.  We've never done a job like this before, but we had a top notch crew who quickly figured out how to build this productively. 

Thursday was the big day to set the rail cars.  These cars cost $4,000,000 each.  They will take you on a 50 second ride from the main terminal hub out to the new Terminal B.  The airport made a big media event out of the day, so there were camera crews and reporters watching us the whole time.  Our crew didn't sweat it, and the guys seamlessly rigged, hoisted and set the cars on the new tracks. 

When we were first awarded this job, there were several who doubted that things would go this smoothly.  For one thing, our project was the connection between the main hub, being built by one construction team, and Terminal B, being built by a separate construction team. Coordinating with each side required a lot of patience and persistence.  Additionally, the electrical contractor building the main hub is union and we are non-union - so many thought our project would have a series of mishaps and labor strife caused by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW - the electrical union) because they didn't want to work side by side with a non-union contractor.  We assured the airport and our customer, Bombardier (the manufacturer of the People Mover), that they would have no problems from us, and we started our project.

We have heard nothing but compliments since we began work.  Superintendents from the other projects repeatedly complimented the work our guys performed, inspectors made the other electrical contractors replace some of their work and "make it look like Royal's".  Our customer has thanked us time and time again for delivering their project on time, despite many obstacles.  And the Bombardier crew who helps set rail cars on projects all over the world, told us that Thursday's work was the "smoothest this has gone on any project so far".  I couldn't be more proud of our entire project team. 

I'm also especially proud of my brother, who did an excellent job as a 2nd year electrical apprentice on this project.  I am so happy that he was able to be a part of such a unique and exciting build. 

Twenty Years Gone

Twenty years ago today, my Nonno passed away.  I can't believe it has been that long.  I was a freshman in high school, which means my sister was four and my brother was two.  They hardly knew him.  But I have some very vivid memories of my grandfather - visiting him at work and playing with the toys he kept there just for us grandkids, playing with his 8-track tapes in his converted garage bar room, eating "rotten cheese" with him on his back patio or grapefruit for breakfast.  I remember hugs with my Nonno, funny how that sticks with me.  Maybe it was his distinctive aftershave.

My Nonno started his electrical contracting company back in 1961 out of his garage, although it had a different name then.  It wasn't until 1971 that our name was chosen, so this year celebrates our 40th anniversary as Royal Electric Company.  Nonno wasn't necessarily known for his business savvy, he was known for his big heart - the person who was always willing to help the down and out.  He would drive my dad crazy when they were partners, my Nonno with his conservative nature and my dad the young risk taker.  I can't imagine how lonely it felt for my dad in 1991 when suddenly the company was his sole responsibility, and his conservative sounding board was gone. 

My Nonno didn't believe that construction was a stable industry for women to work, so he steered his daughters away from working at Royal.  I don't know if my future would have turned out different if he were still here today.  Would my progressive dad have convinced Nonno that I had a place in management?  I'd like to think that my Nonno would have been proud of the work I am doing, even if I do wear a skirt and heels. 

Cancer takes many lives long before we are ready.  When he died, I thought my grandpa was pretty old.  He was 56.  I realize now how young that is!  I wonder if our family would be different if he were still around, and I wish that my brother and I could have had the opportunity to work as the third generation of Royal, side by side with the first and second.  Instead, we will proudly carry on the name he gave his company forty years ago and continue his legacy for more generations to come.

Restricted Access

One of Royal Electric's specialties is airport and airfield construction.  In fact, we're known as the best airport electrical contractor in the western United States.  We started airfield work back in the 80's and by now our crews have worked on hundreds of airports in five different states.  We install the runway and taxiway lights and directional signs that you see when your plane lands, as well as many more things that you wouldn't notice unless you were in our line of work (like manholes, conduit, vault buildings, wind cones, lighted instruments that help the pilots approach the runway and land safely). 


On Thursday I visited our crew in Las Vegas who is currently installing a runway status light system. This is a $6M project in about 6 months.  On this project we also get to use our directional drilling specialty to install the conduits in the runway without having to open trench the entire runway.  Our crew is doing an amazing job and we are right on schedule.  Here are some pictures of their work:

This is my friend Petr who is our foreman on the project.  Petr is the one who is responsible for connecting Darrin and I back in 2000 when we were all working in Fresno on a street project together.  I love this guy and he is an awesome foreman, the most loyal employee we could ask for and a great friend. 

This is how close you get to the planes when you work on a runway.  Here we were waiting to cross this active taxiway that the planes used to get to the runway we didn't have closed.  This picture actually makes the plane look farther away than it really was.  I could actually see the passengers in the windows very clearly.  I felt like waving but decided that would be juvenile.  Mooning them would be downright unprofessional. 

Up With The Sun

One of my favorite things is driving to work early in the morning while it's still dark.  Today I'm doing it to catch a plane to Vegas for the day, but it always reminds me of those days before kids, driving to a job site at 5:30 in the morning, knowing I was up before most people.  Something about getting out while it's dark makes me feel like I control the sunrise, bringing it up for everyone who is still tucked away in their warm bed.  It also excites me because on the job site, you have a whole day of production ahead of you - and in construction you never really know what the day might bring.  I like my schedule now where I don't have to wake up so early, but there are times I really do miss those days and like the occasional reminder of how it used to be.